Ludicrous "convenience" foods

[inmysparetime]

Chatting about pre-grated cheese got me thinking about "convenience" foods that are actually not that convenient. What foods have you seen in shops that are just as much effort as but twice the price of normal food?

Haven't read all of the other posts but I was in Iceland only the other day and saw microwaveable FISH FINGER BUTTIES!!

Another one we use is instant cous-cous. I buy the Ainsley Harriott ones and love them. We don't eat cous-cous often enough to finish a packet before it goes stale, and the smaller Ainsley ones contain just enough for the two of us (DD doesn't like cous-cous).

Frozen spinach is pretty good if you are using it in a curry or soup. And I agree frozen peas are nicer than fresh.

Proper caramelised onions take ages though. The ones from a jar are nice. I hardly buy them, but can see why you might.

Have a packet of batter mix in the cupboard, not sure why, I think the supermarket had run out of flour one day.

Couscous goes stale??

Not nicer than "fresh from the plant", that's one of my best springtime treats, the first pod of peas.

"Couscous goes stale??"

It won't kill you, it just doesn't taste very nice. I use frozen spinach as well.

I've never had them that fresh inmysparetime. Hmmm might try peas in the veg patch this year.

I have honestly never noticed any difference. Maybe we use it up too quickly.

Frozen lime leaves from Waitrose are great.

I will also admit to buying garlic in a jar and ginger

I hate chopping garlic, makes my hands stink.

If its convenient how can it be ludicrous!

"Frozen lime leaves from Waitrose are great."

You can't buy fresh lime leaves in this country anyway so that doesn't count as a cheat. I love the taste of kaffir lime leaves. I bought a good size box of them from a Chinese supermarket for £1.50 recently.

noddyholder that's why "convenience" is in quote marks, as some of these foods don't even save effort or time, they just cost more.

I don't have a problem with convenience food, but I do think that its very presence convinces people that cooking is more difficult than it is.

Take batter mix - if you've never made pancakes before, maybe you go to buy the ingredients and then think "oh, you can get it ready made, maybe it's a difficult thing to make then" and just buy the easy option.

I never realised that sweet and sour sauce was easy to make til about 2 years ago. Now the stuff from the jar makes me gag.

How much cooking do kids do in school these days? We did some but not that much - there definitely should have been more of a focus on the basics (eg making an omelette or a roast or something).

Another unbelievably lazy thing is jars of white sauce - cost £1.50 and would cost about 3p to make it yourself.

I can actually cook , I just cba sometimes

A microwavable fish finger butty is ok if you want to take it to work for lunch or something. My boss would object if I brought in a camping stove & frying pan to knock one up for myself

Many many moons ago I worked in a cheese factory. There was a giant machine which grated massive blocks of cheese

I will never forget that smell

I'd much rather grate my own

Surely oven cooking fish fingers at home the night before, then bringing them to reheat at work, and assembling the sandwich yourself would yield better results than microwaving the instant meal in its entirety?

It strikes me that all of these stem from the belief that we should be able to have whatever, whenever we want, regardless of the impracticality.

If you only have a microwave at work, then why on earth would you decide you need a fishmonger or toasted sandwich, or a burger. Have a fucking normal sandwich or, heaven forbid, some soup.

Fish finger, not fishmonger

@fishmonger in your rant

My fishmonger is v funny and would have cheered up my old workplace no end. What a pity he does not come in convenience form, for lunchbreaks

I must admit when I first left home I relied heavily on packets and jars and mixes. I had no clue how to make up yorkshire puddings from scratch and no inclination to find out how when I could buy a batter mix from the local corner for 49p. It didn't occur to me that I was paying 49p for a tiny bag of flour with a bit of salt in it

I now cook a lot more things from scratch but still use a lot of jars. I refuse to make white sauce/cheese sauce from a packet, but will use jars of tomato sauce. I'm sure once I eventually learn how to make tomato sauce I will wonder why I used jars for so long.

Stand by my problem with pre-diced meat. If you get one big piece of stewing steak and a sharp knife it takes about 30 seconds and no real effort to turn it into diced steak for the pot. For about an extra £1 per kilo it's done for you. I suppose my problem is that I just don't have that kind of money to chuck away.

That pancake batter that comes in a bottle and you just add milk too is a godsend for camping!

Normally I would make the batter and I love baking cakes and biscuits but shortcuts are the way forward when in a tent